Scene and Heard: Scene's News Blog

'Trash Fish' Dinner Designed to Educate Diners on Tasty (But Less Marketable) Seafood

If you saw "trash fish" on a menu, are you inclined to order it for dinner? We didn't think so. But if we are serious about sustainability as it applies to our seafood, we need to start thinking about — and eating — fish other than tuna, salmon, halibut and especially "Chilean sea bass," say supporters of sustainable seafood policy.

"It is important to market the by-catch or 'trash fish' because it is fish that does not have good marketability but still tastes great," says Katz. "To be sustainable, we need to make use of these fish or they will simply not be eaten and die. That is wasteful and really not sustainable."

Katz, Jonathon Sawyer and members of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Blue Ribbon Task Force will help guide diners away from overfished varieties and toward under-fished and often discarded species at the multi-course dinner.

"As members of the Blue Ribbon Committee for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program, Sawyer and I are excited to promote this great program and to serve great food that also educates and does great things for our local community," says Katz.

As they (might) say, "One man’s trash fish is another man’s treasure fish."

Tickets are $120, exclusive of tax and gratuity, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the Great Lakes Science Center’s Lake Erie Web of Life workshop. Reservations can be made by calling 216-921-3473.